


A Change of Frame

by within_a_dream



Category: Chicago Med
Genre: Coming Out, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 23:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: Isidore Latham makes a discovery and has a conversation





	A Change of Frame

**Author's Note:**

  * For [telm_393](https://archiveofourown.org/users/telm_393/gifts).



Isidore's position at Chicago Med had led to several revelations. The autism diagnosis had slid his life into a frame that made much more sense. He wasn't so oblivious that he'd never noticed that he was different, or that he had fewer friends or even amiable acquaintances than his peers. The meeting with the psychologist had merely explained foibles and failings that he'd long ago given up finding a reason for, and after his disastrous foray into medical intervention, he'd come to terms with working around it.

Further meetings with his psychologist had made Isidore reconsider another aspect of his personal life as well. He'd been assured after an uncharacteristically tentative question that many people on the autism spectrum found fulfilling romantic relationships. This was meant to be helpful, his psychologist had told him after he didn't respond. It had taken Isidore a good few hours after the appointment ended to pin down why he’d been dismayed at this – the autism had provided a new way to reframe his utter lack of romantic interest in women. The treatment hadn’t helped, but he’d thought that perhaps he hadn’t given it enough time. However, after the appointment and further research he conducted online, Isidore had to reconsider that conclusion. Conclusion: he really _was_ broken.

Then the Internet searches led him down a path he’d never considered. Isidore wasn’t an idiot; he knew being gay was, theoretically, a possibility. He’d simply assumed that if he were interested in men, he would know. Like he’d known he was autistic, the part of him that was learning to dabble in sarcasm said. Now that he considered it, where the thought of spending the rest of his life with a woman left him cold, the same hypothetical with a man was intriguing. This required more consideration.

  


After sleeping on it, Isidore had decided that he was positively, certainly gay. Perhaps that should bother him more than it did. He’d spent decades of his life not realizing this about himself, after all, and it did seem to be a thing that most people figured out much earlier on. But he’d already had the identity panic with his autism diagnosis, and frankly he couldn’t be bothered to do it again. There were too many other things to worry about. Was he meant to tell his coworkers? Coming out seemed to be important to most people, but he’d never shared personal information with his colleagues before and he wasn’t sure he should start now. Should he start dating? The idea of a boyfriend wasn’t unpleasant (if a bit childish-sounding), but as mystifying as heterosexual dating seemed, gay dating was even more of an unknown. Ah well, he was on call today with no surgeries scheduled, he had time to do some more research.

  


A few hours and a dozen or so tabs later, Isidore had less of an idea of how gay men dated than he would have liked. He didn’t know why he’d expected this to be easy. It shouldn’t matter, really, how long it took him to plan this out, but he had the uneasy feeling he’d wasted too much time already to put it off any longer.

He already felt uneasy about using his phone at work (although less so than he would using his work computer), and the knock at his door only increased that feeling.

"Morning, Dr. Latham."

"Ah, Dr. Rhodes. Did you need something?"

Rhodes looked at Isidore with an expression he couldn’t read. "Is everything all right?"

Isidore made a spur-of-the-moment decision to confide in him. Highly out of character, but Rhodes had trusted Isidore with his personal life, and he could use advice from a more neurotypical angle

"As a matter of fact, I’d like your thoughts on something. Do you have a moment?"

Rhodes sat down. "You know you can always ask me for help."

Well. It was too late to back out now. "I’ve recently discovered that I’m gay." He regretted everything about this decision. Why would anyone come out to their colleagues? It was terrifying. "I do realize I"m rather late in the game for this, and my social delays haven’t helped matters. I’m currently trying to pursue dating, but I confess I’ve found it hard to navigate. My research suggests an app called Grindr would be useful--"

Isidore had known Rhodes long enough that he could sometimes read his facial expressions He hadn’t expected the sheer panic that flashed across Rhodes’s face at the mention of Grindr, but it did please him that he could interpret it.

"I...would not recommend Grindr, Dr. Latham." Rhodes paused. "Unless you’re looking for casual sex, in which case I would definitely recommend Grindr."

Isidore filed Grindr away under the _not for him_ section of his mind, along with gay bars and ChristianMingle. "I see. Thank you for the advice."

Rhodes’s face went red. "There’s a meetup group that might be more your speed, they do breakfasts and museum visits. Or the gay chorus – do you sing?"

Those did indeed sound more his ‘speed’. "I appreciate it, Dr. Rhodes.I do have one more question, if you’re not too busy? Don’t let me keep you if you are."

Rhodes shook his head. "Ask away."

"In your professional opinion, should I tell the rest of the cardiac team? I’m not fond of sharing personal information in a work environment, but it does seem dishonest to keep it from them, especially now that I’ve told you."

Rhodes leaned back in his chair. "You don’t need to tell anyone." He’d stopped trying to make eye contact at some point, Isidore noticed. "I’m, uh, bi. I haven’t told anyone at work because it’s none of their business, and frankly I’m worried it would get back to my father. But if you want people to know, they won’t look down on you for it. There’s no actual rules about this, I promise."

"Your father doesn’t know?" That wasn’t the point of what Rhodes had said, and Isidore worried he’d been rude to focus on it. But Rhodes shook his head and answered, so even if Isidore _had_ been rude, it couldn’t have been that upsetting.

"He wouldn’t be happy about it. I don’t plan on bringing a boyfriend home anytime soon, so I don’t see a reason to tell him and deal with the fallout."

"From what you’ve told me, there are plenty of other things he’s unhappy about."

"And plenty more that he’d be even more unhappy about if he found out. I only tell him what I have to."

Isidore supposed that made sense, although he got the feeling Rhodes was sad about this secret. "Thank you again for letting me confide in you. I’m sure you have work to be getting back to."

"Any time." Rhodes stood up. "If you don’t mind, let me know how you like those meetups?"

"Of course." After Rhodes left, Isidore jotted down a few notes in his phone memo and began to search for the groups he’d mentioned. It seemed bringing one’s personal life into the workplace needn’t always end in disaster.

**Author's Note:**

> I fell in love with your "Latham has a Big Gay Realization and then awkwardly comes out to Connor" prompt, and I wish I'd had the time to write you a whole novel of it! I hope you enjoy :D


End file.
